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“The situation on Covid-19 in Lithuania has taken on a threatening character. It will be recalled that infectious diseases spread when there is a source of infection, pathways conducive to spread, and a receptive society. {…}
The situation of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and its COVID-19 disease in Lithuania has reached a critical level. At the state level, large-scale measures are being launched to control the infection. Not all these measures are adequately communicated to the public, so we would like to summarize the positions of Lithuanian scientists with this document ”, it is written in an article compiled by members of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and visiting scientists.
The news portal tv3.lt invites you to familiarize yourself with the most relevant information about the pandemic and its management, as well as to remember the main routes and the course of the spread of the disease.
You can find the full article on the website www.lma.lt.
How exactly is Covid-19 spread?
The main source of infection is an infected person and can infect others for another 10 days after the first symptoms of the disease. The dose of the virus that is dangerous for each person is very individual, depending on many individual circumstances: the general condition of the body, concomitant diseases, the condition of the mucous membranes and the like. The incubation period for the disease from infection to the onset of disease symptoms lasts from one to 14 days (each person responds differently).
Covid-19 disease can be diagnosed in a number of ways: by molecular tests (the most accurate), serological tests (not suitable for diagnosing acute infection), and rapid antigen tests (rapid but less accurate).
The most frequent symptoms are fever (> 38 ° C in 31-43% of cases), cough (46-82% of cases) and dyspnea (up to 31% of cases).
Other symptoms (syndromes) associated with Covid-19 disease include muscle pain, general weakness, runny nose, sore throat, diarrhea in some patients, loss of smell or taste and development of pneumonia, arrhythmias, acute renal failure as Covid-19 is advancing. injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, septic shock.
Risk factors for severe Covid-19 disease include advanced age (> 65 years), chronic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory, and others).
Covid-19 can cause asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe, and critically severe disease in humans.
The disease is characterized by seasonality.
Because Covid-19 is distributed around the world for less than a year, it is not yet possible to accurately judge the seasonality of this particular species, but it can be compared to other coronavirus species.
Seasonality is common in all respiratory infections like influenza. Researchers in the United States (US) have found that coronavirus infections are seasonal, with the main peak between January and February. The steepest low tide – in summer. So far, similar trends have been seen in Covid-19 infection.
This dynamics of the virus is also registered in Lithuania. According to a team of scientists, the virus possibly manifested itself in weaker asymptomatic forms during the summer and then spread widely in society. As indirect evidence, they present local autumnal shoots in smaller Lithuanian cities.
“This is a worrying issue, because if this pattern continues and the virus control measures implemented are not effective enough, we may face even greater activity from SARS-CoV-2 in January and February. We must be prepared for that.” says the article.
Vaccines against coronaviruses began in 2003.
According to an article compiled by the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, the first vaccines against coronaviruses began to be developed around 2003, but were never registered or used in practice.
Currently, about 300 vaccine candidates are being tested worldwide, according to the WHO. 166 vaccines are in preclinical trials and 56 in multistage clinical trials. Covid-19 vaccines have the same requirements as all others and are developed and tested according to strict standards.
The coronavirus vaccine is given in two doses, several weeks apart. This is necessary to ensure more reliable long-term protection. For universal vaccination to be successful, about 60-70% should be vaccinated. population. It is not yet clear exactly how long the protection from the current vaccine will last, but the available data confirm that the protection provided by existing vaccines will last at least six months, probably longer.
According to the data from the phase III studies currently completed, the efficacy of the vaccines already available in Lithuania reaches up to 95%.
“The essence of these vaccines is an implanted synthetic information RNA (mRNA) molecule that tells the cell to produce the needle protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The coronavirus protein produced in the vaccine is responded to by the immune system. This triggers immune defense mechanisms that target the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. By blocking needle structures, the SARS-CoV-2 virus cannot adhere to the host cell and initiate processes The grafted mRNA molecule degrades rapidly without causing any other effects, “the team from the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences describes the working principle of the coronavirus vaccine.
The researchers reassure those who think the vaccine developed too quickly and could be dangerous; They say the speed of its development can be explained simply: This type of vaccine has been researched for decades and has received incredible intellectual, technological and financial resources. means.
The virus mutation in the UK is spreading faster
Genetic analysis shows that the coronavirus is characterized by variability due to point mutations in its genome. Scientists have already identified more than 12,000 such mutations. in the genomes of different SARS-CoV-2 virus lines.
“This happened at the beginning of the pandemic in China (in late January 2020) and led to the formation of two main lines of SARS-CoV-2, D and G. It should be noted that this mutation resulted in the ability of the G-line viruses spread ~ 20% faster in the human population compared to D-line viruses. It is the G-line viruses that have spread and dominate in Europe and the United States ”, says the article .
The main concern so far is the mutation of the virus first recorded in the United Kingdom (UK) in September, which is now spreading at an increasing rate. According to researchers, in England by 2020. December 13 this new variant of the virus has been identified in 1.1 thousand. and in Wales by 2020. December 14 – 20 people In addition, nine people with the new strain have been registered in Denmark and one in the Netherlands and Australia.
This strain of the virus is spreading 70% in society. faster than previously recorded mutations. People infected with this form have not yet been shown to have a more severe form of Covid-19 disease.
These mutations are not expected to reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines.
The team of scientists who contributed to the article emphasizes in the abstract that strict quarantine measures are particularly necessary to control the coronavirus, and we cannot abandon them yet.
“Currently, this is the only direction of impact to prevent further intensive spread of infections and deaths, a critical direct and indirect impact on the health care system.” {…} Quarantine measures cannot be relaxed even after vaccination programs have started. They should be continued until a significant reduction in the spread of infection is achieved. {…}
By reaching a public immunity level of 60-70%, we can hope to control the SARS-CoV-2 infection and return to our normal lives, ”the article says.
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